CREWE'S dilapidated railway station is on track for a £10m transformation.

Three ambitious schemes to bring the station into the 21st Century will be unveiled to passengers and South Cheshire residents for consideration next month.

Rail bosses will then decide which renovation plan should be put into force and major work to upgrade the run down station could start as soon as 2005.

Michael Ross, Cheshire County Council's public transport project manager, said: 'People care about Crewe Station. It's part of the national psyche more than any other station in the North West, and a lot of people change here.

'The town is known for the railway, but when people come here they get the wrong impression. It's dismal. It's what it was in the 1850s.

That's not what the passengers want and it's not what the people of Crewe want.'

The station's Victorian platforms reflect badly on Crewe's illustrious history as a railway town. The plans have been drawn up over six months following a £60,000 study by the Crewe Railway Gateway Working Group.

The group, which comprises the county council, Virgin, Network Rail and Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council, aims to bring massive investment to the station.

Mr Ross said: 'The report will have three options, and all have pluses and minuses. A total transformation will be desirable but it may not be deliverable.

'There are three quite different ways of doing things, all with different time scales. It will be a major scheme, but if we can make it work it will be a tremendous change.'

The details of the options have not yet been revealed, but will involve work to the station entrance, concourse level, the station roof and the platforms.

Renovation work will also centre on car parking at the Nantwich Road site, in a bid to provide an easily accessible drop-off point and spaces.

The working group has also commissioned designers and architects behind a recent upgrade at Manchester Piccadilly which has been widely regarded as a resounding success.

Crewe Station manager Sam Dixon said: 'It's the fabric and the infrastructure that need to be improved, not the facilities.

'The basic platform layout and tracks can't be changed. The work will be on the concourse and the car parking. We want to make it a suitable gateway station for the region.'

It is hoped the work, which will cost 'more than £10m', can start as soon as the working group decides on how it will be funded.

Borough council leader Peter Kent said: 'This is a very important step. We are let down by the station at the moment, and I hope to see a radical change rather than superficial alterations.'